


we stand just a little too close, we stare just a little too long

by akihiros



Series: let’s give them something to talk about (how about love?) [1]
Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 20:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20895554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akihiros/pseuds/akihiros
Summary: Five times Johnny Storm admitted he’s in love with Peter Parker (and one time Peter did something about it).





	we stand just a little too close, we stare just a little too long

**Author's Note:**

> Basically what it says on the summary. It’s not beta-ed so you know, if you see any mistake let me know, please!
> 
> Title is from Something to Talk About by Bonnie Raitt.

1.

“For the last time, Johnny, Titanic is not a good movie,” Peter groans, softly hitting his best friend’s shoulder with a pillow.

They are both at the communal area of the Baxter Building and it’s movie night. Johnny is trying to choose a movie for them to watch and Peter is being so dense, so freaking dense. Johnny’s response is to take away the pillow from Peter’s hands and hitting him with it, too.

“Titanic is a classic and you suck,” Johnny says, but he keeps on navigating through the movie selection on Netflix because he knows he’s not winning this one. He’s already accepted they are not going to watch Titanic tonight. It’s sad, Johnny really wanted to cry while he watched Jack die for the nth time.

“Torch, you can’t keep on crying because of a shitty movie,” Peter says sincerely, like he knows what Johnny is thinking about. Johnny rolls his eyes.

“I should have said yes to Sue when she invited me to that important and boring business dinner,” Johnny mutters.

“Oh, Torch.” Peter fakes to be hurt, holding his hand against his chest, and Johnny wants to punch him so badly. “No, you don’t mean that. You love being stuck with your old pal Spidey. Get over it.”

And thinking about it, Johnny realizes he really does love that. Kind of. He shakes his head and keeps on searching for a movie, even though he’s been doing exactly the same for the last ten minutes. Peter huffs and curls himself up on the couch like he’s tired of waiting. Johnny turns to look curiously at him.

“Star Wars?” Johnny asks. Peter’s smile is the biggest thing in the entire world every time he says the magic words. Johnny clicks ‘Play’ when he chooses  _ The Empire Strikes Back _ because he knows it’s Peter’s favorite from the entire saga.

They rearrange themselves on the couch while the movie starts. Johnny picks up the bowl of popcorn from the coffee table and places it on his lap. Peter starts eating even when the screen is just showing the intro of the movie. Johnny sighs, but he lets his best friend live. Peter slides his arm over the back of the couch, softly touching the skin of Johnny’s nape when he leaves it resting there. Johnny feels himself blushing and he tries to ignore the uneasy feeling on the pit of his stomach filling his mouth with popcorn.

Johnny doesn’t pay any attention to the movie. He can’t stop thinking about Peter’s fingers being too close to his skin, his body almost completely pressed at his side, his head lulling by his shoulder and his other hand catching handfuls of popcorn from his lap. Johnny  _ loves  _ it. He feels like it’s too much but too little at the same time.

Peter falls asleep before the movie hits half an hour of runtime. Johnny knows he must be exhausted; the brunette worked the whole day for the Bugle and then went out on patrol most of the night. Johnny can see the web-shooters peeking out his sleeves. He grazes the thing with an index finger, feeling the need of dragging Peter to a bed and stand guard while he sleeps.

“Pete?” Johnny calls for him, just to tell him he should go home and rest. Peter murmurs something under his breath and then presses his face on Johnny’s shoulder, wrapping an arm around the blond’s middle, cuddling him. Johnny feels like screaming.

He carefully places Peter’s arm on his own lap without waking him up, and then he softly pushes him until he’s lying entirely on the couch. Johnny stands up to fetch Franklin’s Spidey blanket from one of the armchairs to place it over Peter’s sleeping body. He curls up against the other end of the couch and looks at the web-slinger from time to time, feeling a warm sensation curling inside him, something deep and intense.

_ You know what it is,  _ he thinks to himself.

The movie is long forgotten and Johnny only thinks about Peter looking peaceful while he sleeps. His heart does a somersault inside his chest and he does know what it means.

He swallows and decides to try ignoring the feeling.

  
  


2.

Johnny finds Peter in the middle of a bank robbery a few days later. He drops himself in front of the place in question and smiles when he sees a man webbed up on a streetlight, trying to free himself and failing at it. Another one comes flying out of a broken window of the bank and Johnny knows that’s not Peter’s doing.

“You aren’t supposed to do that!” Peter is yelling while he keeps webbing men after men and dodging bullets at the same time. At his side is one of his clones—or brothers—and Johnny registers it’s Kaine. The black and red suit looks pretty good, Johnny can’t help but admit to himself.

“Shut up, Parker,” Kaine grunts while he punches another man on the face and webs another one’s gun in a span of five seconds.

“Everything okay around here?” Johnny asks, taking a quick look around the entire place. None of the Spider-Men have time to answer because the Torch sees a man coming right at Peter and he lets a small fireball hit the second on the chest, sending him sprawling back against a wall. Peter turns around to look at him.

“You do know I’ve got a spider-sense, right?”

“Shut up and be nice, I saved your life,” Johnny says, waving him away with a hand. Peter huffs, placing both hands on his hips in a clear ‘are you kidding me’ pose. The blond smirks at him.

“Are you two lovebirds done? We’re kinda in the middle of something here, Storm,” Kaine says. He shoots a webline in the direction of a robber who is trying to escape and pulls hard on it, making him fall back with a groan. Kaine webs him again, this time on his legs and arms.

“I just wanted to make sure you were coming to our movie night later,” Johnny explains softly. Kaine lets out a huffing noise. Peter looks at him—or better yet, he glares at his brother for interrupting his best friend. Johnny speaks again, completely ignoring Kaine. “I was around the neighborhood anyway, I wasn’t–I wasn’t following you or something.”

“You’re so dense, Storm,” Kaine says somehow angrily. He walks up to them, placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “I’ve got this, man. You should go with your boyfriend before he starts crying, I’m going to be fine.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Johnny and Peter say at the same time and both of them look at each other, but only Peter can see Johnny’s face and he thinks that’s not fair.

“Yeah, sure,” Kaine bites, looking exasperated. “Please go, I can’t stand to watch you two make eyes at each other.”

“But we’re not–” Johnny tries.

“Yadda, yadda, go away,” Kaine replies, waving them away with quick flicks of his hands. Peter shrugs and they both leave Kaine alone.

“So, is that it?” Peter asks him when they’re alone. Johnny looks at him. “I mean, the thing about movie night…”

“Oh, that,” Johnny says, “I just wanted to tell you that you should take a nap before going to the Baxter. The last time you fell asleep on me, but I’m not judging you, Webhead. I just think you should rest. On a daily basis.”

“Hey, that’s nice, Torch,” Peter replies. Johnny feels the warm sensation on his stomach again, just like it happened the last time. He’s so screwed. “Okay, I’m going to take a long nap then. See you tonight, Flamebrain. And we’re not watching Titanic! Not today, not ever!”

Johnny bites his lip while he watches Peter take off swinging away over the streets, through the buildings, his lean body a perfect silhouette in the distance. Johnny’s whole body softens looking at him.

“Are you going to tell him sometime soon?” Kaine asks and Johnny lets out a soft scream because he’s right there, next to him. The worst of all the clones seems to look at him unamused, if the inexpressive mask could give any of his expressions away, but Johnny actually can hear it on his voice. He learned that through years and years of being Peter’s best friend.

“What are you talking about?” Johnny replies.

“I’m talking about your big-fat crush on Spider-Man,” Kaine replies. Johnny blinks a few times and Kaine lets out a laugh. “You do know it’s kind of obvious, right? You’re both friends since forever and you look at him with heart-eyes all the time. Remember you’re not the one wearing a mask and you don’t know how to hide what you’re feeling. It’s all on your face.”

“Hey, fuck you,” Johnny says.

“I’m not the Parker you exactly want to fuck,” Kaine retorts.

“You know I can still set you on fire, don’t you?” Johnny crosses his arms over his chest.

“Yeah, and I can still web your pretty face or break every single one of your bones,” Kaine says, “but I’m too nice and I wouldn’t want to face the rage of Spider-Man for touching his man.”

“Kaine Parker, you’re the worst clone ever,” Johnny says before flaming on and getting away from Kaine.

Kaine knows about his stupid feelings and now he’s afraid of Peter knowing, too.

  
  


3.

Peter drops off at the Statue of Liberty and Johnny is already there, waiting for him, after a stupid fight with an army of doombots. Spidey and a few of the Avengers were there to help the Fantastic Four and everyone was done in no time. While Peter was on Avengers clean-up and damage control business, Johnny left him a fire message in the sky to meet him at their usual place.

And now Peter is offering him a recently bought wrapped-up burger, fries and a cup of soda. He sits down next to Johnny and they eat in silence, looking at the New York skyline going from dark blue to full black in a matter of minutes.

“I saw Ben a few days ago,” Peter says out of nowhere, and Johnny doesn’t get it at first, until he realizes Peter is talking about Ben Reilly, his other clone—brother, Johnny corrects himself. Peter adds, “He sends you his regards.”

“And that’s why Ben is my favorite clone,” Johnny smiles and Peter laughs. Johnny can’t help but look at him, with his mask rolled-up to his nose, his lips glistening with the grease of his burger and fries. Peter’s laugh slowly subsedes. Johnny swallows. “Peter, I…”

“Yeah, Torch?” Peter says.

Should Johnny tell him? Should he tell him about what he feels or he thinks he feels about him? Peter would probably laugh and think Johnny’s messing with him. Johnny wishes that was the case. If he tells him, would it be weird for them? Would Peter slowly stop talking to him or hanging out with him completely just because Johnny’s got more than friendly feelings for him? Would he feel uncomfortable knowing Johnny likes him more than he should?

“You know you can tell me anything, right, Torch?” Peter prompts after a long pause. Johnny isn’t so sure about it anymore. He does know there’s stuff he couldn’t tell Peter, and this is one of them. He swallows hard.

“Just wanted to know if you’re up for a movie night after all this mess with the doombots,” Johnny says, and he feels almost defeated.

“Oh,” Peter mutters, “yeah, Torch. Whenever you want.”

“Thank you, Spidey,” Johnny says, placing his free hand on Peter’s shoulder. He looks at him and feels the urge to lean in and taste those lips. He doesn’t, though.

Johnny offers the rest of his burger to Peter because he just doesn’t feel like finishing it. Peter doesn’t question him about it, he just eats the rest of Johnny’s burger in silence. Johnny feels like he’s doing everything wrong.

  
  


4.

“I think I’m love with Spider-Man,” Johnny blurts out.

Wyatt looks up at him, forgetting all about the newspaper he’s reading. They are both having breakfast at the kitchen of the Baxter Building and Johnny feels like he’s going to explode if he doesn’t get it out of his chest once and for all.

“Congrats?” Wyatt says, unsure if that’s okay or not. Johnny glares at him and he shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, Johnny. Aren’t you in love with him like since you’ve met him?”

“Why am I friends with you again?” Johnny asks him.

“Because I’m nice and I like you for who you really are,” Wyatt replies, shrugging, “and probably because I’m the only one who puts up with you, except for Spider-Man, sure.”

“That’s mean, Wyatt,” Johnny complains.

“About being in love with Spider-Man,” Wyatt reminds him, “do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know,” Johnny responds, letting out a sigh. He plays with his coffee and laughs sourly when he realizes he’s drinking from a mug of Spider-Man. He wraps both hands around it to hide the red mask he knows so well. “You know he’s been my only superhero friend for half my life. I am one of the few people who knows his real identity. And he’s my best friend, but he also is the only friend who knows me so well, both as the Human Torch and Johnny Storm, and also understands the burden. He’s always there for me and my family loves him like he’s one of us. He kind of is, I made sure of it. And sometimes, when I look at him, I feel this–this urge of just grabbing him and kissing him because he’s just…perfect.”

“I thought you meant you have a crush on him but I see this is more serious than I first thought,” Wyatt observes, one of his hands softly caressing his chin. Johnny lets his head fall on the table. “Come on, Johnny, don’t be like that. You could tell him.”

“And ruin our friendship? And make him feel uncomfortable and obligated to stop hanging out with me because of what I feel for him? You’re crazy if you think I could do that.”

Johnny shivers just thinking about doing something like that to Peter. He thinks about losing him and—no, Johnny doesn’t want to think about it.

“Do you think so less of him that you’re sure he would react that way?” Wyatt asks, sounding worried. Johnny knows, deep down, Peter wouldn’t.

“No,” Johnny says, defeated. “But I don’t think telling him is a good idea either. Maybe–Maybe if I just  _ stop _ , it goes away.” Johnny doubts that, but he says it anyway, just to try if saying it out loud makes it real.

“Johnny, my man,” Wyatt sighs, “that’s not how feelings work. And doing that isn’t good for you.”

“It’s better than making Spidey live through me confessing my love for him,” Johnny laughs, but the sound is bitter and a little bit sad.

“You should give it a try, though,” Wyatt insists. Johnny looks at him, unsure. “Knowing Spider-Man for the things you and your family say about him, I’m sure he isn’t the monster you think he’d be if he knew about your feelings.”

“God, Wyatt,” Johnny groans, pressing his face against his hands, feeling more miserable than ever. “Why did it have to be him of all people? He’s my best friend, I’m not supposed to fall for him.”

“It is what it is, my man,” Wyatt says, stroking him softly on the shoulder. Johnny lets him, Wyatt’s big hand a warm and comforting spot on his skin.

  
  
  


5.

“Hey, Sue,” Johnny says when he find his sister sitting on the couch in front of the TV, reading a magazine. She raises her head when she spots him and Johnny walks up to her and lets himself fall on the cushions next to her.

“Johnny,” Sue greets him. She places the open magazine on her lap and turns her entire attention to him. His sister only takes a look at him and frowns. “Hey, what’s wrong, baby brother?”

Her hand is soft and warm when she places it on his hair, a barely there caress who makes him remember how she used to do the same when he was just a little boy. Johnny moves and she lets him place his head on her shoulder, wrapping one of her arms around his shoulders. Sue doesn’t know what’s happening to Johnny, but she’s going to be there for him until he’s ready to talk about it.

“I’m in love with my best friend,” Johnny whispers. Sue frowns again.

“You’re in love with Wyatt?” she asks a little unsure.

“Wh– No!” Johnny sits straight to look at her with his eyebrows furrowed. Sue shrugs, looking like she would totally understand if that was the case. “Yeah, Wyatt is my best friend but I didn’t mean him. I meant Spider-Man.” Johnny swallows and states, “I’m in love with Peter.”

Sue looks at him for long seconds, opening her mouth to speak, but she doesn’t say anything. Johnny raises a brow at her complete silence.

“Okay, sis, that’s all you’ve got?” Johnny asks, glaring at her. “You’re not going to say anything about it? Because I kind of just dropped a bomb right there and you’re doing nothing to help me.”

“I’m sorry,” Sue says, blinking rapidly, “but confessing your love for Wyatt would have been more shocking, but this is– This is not new, Johnny. I kinda thought you were in love with Spider-Man since the day he broke into our building to try to join the Fantastic Four.”

“Why would I b–?” But Johnny stops himself and thinks about it while Sue looks at him with her brows raised knowingly.

Johnny remembers that day like it was yesterday. And he also remembers all the things that happened after he and Peter played the rivals card for a long time. Johnny learned he didn’t really hate Spidey, he just wanted to be free-spirited like him. And he now understands he’s always admired Spider-Man’s determination and his will to keep on fighting even though he’s a breath away of being defeated, just for the sake of helping people and being a good man. A hero.

Johnny always loved Spider-Man. And then he started loving Peter, too, because it was inevitable.

“Oh, my God,” Johnny whispers. Sue smiles softly.

“I know,” Sue chuckles. “It’s good that you finally admitted what you feel for him, but the thing was there from the beginning. Spider-Man’s always a constant in your life and then there’s Peter…”

“Shit, he’s going to hate my guts, isn’t he?” Johnny threads his hands through his hair, tugging at a few strands. “He’s going to freak out if I tell him and then he’s going to punch me for being weird and he’s– Oh, God, Sue. I don’t want Peter to hate me. I don’t know if I could ever live knowing he doesn’t want to see me again or be my friend, this is so fucking wrong, this is–”

“Johnny,” Sue calls him softly, placing one of his tiny and perfect hands on his shoulder, and Johnny automatically relaxes. He breaths in, with her doing the same next to him, and then they breath out together. “Stop freaking out. He’s not going to hate you, he’s your best friend. What’s the worst thing that could happen? That he doesn’t feel the same about you? That’s sad, brother, but you can’t control no one’s feelings.” Sue lets out a sigh. “You should talk to him. This thing is eating you alive.”

“I can’t do it if he’s going to hate me,” Johnny whispers, shaking his head. Sue pulls him into a hug.

“He’s not going to hate you,” Sue soothes him. “You know Peter, Johnny. You’ve known him for almost half of your life. He’s not going to push you away nor stop talking to you. Peter isn’t that person.” She caresses his back. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell him, but if you get it out of your chest, you’ll feel better. I promise.”

“Okay,” Johnny says and nods against her neck. He pulls away and goes for a little reassuring smile. “I’m going to talk to him.”

“You’re going to be okay, little bro,” Sue assures him, softly caressing one of his cheeks. She looks into his blue eyes, identical to hers. “You’re both going to be okay.”

  
  


+1.

Peter is swinging around the city when he sees the fire message the Torch left him in the sky. He stops over an apartment building roof to look at it, and from there he’s able to make the Statue of Liberty’s silhouette, where he knows Johnny is waiting for him. He smiles and shoots a line of web to make his way there.

Johnny is standing right next to Lady Liberty’s torch when he gets there, where there’s a little more privacy than their current spot on its crown. The sky is dark and Johnny is almost a translucent silhouette against it. The Torch is scruffing one of his boots against the floor when Peter falls on a crouch in front of him. He quickly pulls off his mask.

“You okay, Johnny?” Peter asks instantly. Johnny looks up at him and stands up.

“I’m okay, Pete,” Johnny says, “I just wanted to talk to you about something important that’s been happening to me lately. I’m not sure if telling you this is going to help me or ruin our friendship, but I do think I need to get it out of my chest once and for all.”

“Torch, please, tell me what’s going on,” Peter begs, running one of his hands through his hair and making a mess of it. Johnny looks nervous and like he’s about to take a leap right into an abism.

“I need you to promise me that you won’t be mad at me,” Johnny says first. Peter shakes his head, reassuring him. Johnny lets out a long sigh. “Okay. I’m sorry for this, but I–” Johnny presses his mouth into a tight line. Peter waits patiently for him. “Maybe this ruins everything between us by the time I finish, but I want you to know I will still respect you if you decide you don’t want to see me ever again. I’ll be hurt, but I’ll understand why you would choose to do that.”

“Johnny,” Peter says, and his hands are now squeezing his mask tightly and the nerves are eating him alive. Johnny is taking so long to tell him what he wants to tell him and he feels like he’s going to do something really stupid if the Torch doesn’t get right to the point.

“Peter, I–” Johnny looks into his eyes and Peter almost flinches away, because they’re too blue and sincere and maybe a little bit sad, too. And Peter doesn’t like it when Johnny’s sad, and perhaps he wants to punch the person who is hurting him even though that’s none of his business. Except it is, because he loves Johnny and he doesn’t want to see him hurt. Johnny sighs again and continues, “Peter, I lov–”

But Johnny doesn’t get to finish, because Peter is already crossing the distance between them and his gloved hands are now on each side of his face. He looks at him, agape, and Peter finally kisses him. It’s a brief kiss, a soft caress of their mouths, Peter’s chapped lips against Johnny’s moisturized-everyday ones. His hands are still on the blond’s face when he leans back and looks into those brilliant blue eyes.

“You kissed me,” Johnny whispers, looking dumbfounded. Peter nods with his head, smiling. “You kissed me while I was trying to confess to you. That’s cheating.”

“You looked so beautiful and I was losing my goddamn mind waiting for you to get to the point,” Peter explains. Johnny is still gaping at him. “And I wanted to do that since forever.”

“You did?” Johnny asks, surprised. Peter chuckles and nods, leaning in to kiss him again. This time Johnny is ready and he closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation of kissing Peter, his best friend, the man he loves. Peter caresses his face and Johnny places his hands on Peter’s hips.

“You’re infuriating and I love it,” Peter says between kisses, on Johnny’s mouth and his cheeks, his eyelids, his forehead. Johnny laughs and searches for Peter’s mouth again, sighing against his parted lips. “You could say the most horrible things to me, Johnny Storm, and I would still love you all the same.”

“Good,” Johnny says, “because I love you, too, and you’re stuck with me now.”

“I already was,” Peter admits. He uses one index finger to softly trace Johnny’s cheekbone; he’s mesmerised. Johnny blushes and Peter kisses him softly before he says, “You’re so beautiful, Torch.”

“Stop,” Johnny whispers, biting his bottom lip, his cheeks warm under Peter’s touch.

“You know I’m right,” Peter smiles. And he kisses him again, because he can do it now. He could’ve been doing this for a long time, but Peter is happy knowing he can do it at all now.

“Go out with me,” Johnny asks him. Peter kisses him on the tip of his nose before stepping away from him.

“But we already do that,” Peter replies, shooting a webline to pick up his mask, which was forgotten on the floor.

“Officially,” Johnny adds. Peter smiles and stops putting on his mask before the fabric reaches his mouth.

“I would like that,” Petter accepts. He shoots another webline and catches the front of Johnny’s uniform, pulling from it until the blond stumbles and falls against his chest. Johnny places his hands on Peter’s shoulders to right himself and looks at him with big blue eyes. Peter smiles. “It’s a date, Torch.”

“It better be,” Johnny says before Peter kisses him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are really appreciated! I’m on twitter @SPIDEYT0RCH
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
